How We Love
by Aubz8801
Summary: Love has always been described as a hunger or longing. Not only until now did he discover that it was an ache; one that couldn't be satisfied.


**Yay! New story! This is based off the song ****_How We Love _****by Ingrid Michaelson. This sparked into my head after listening to the song 14 times in a row (I didn't count, by the way. My fingers just randomly typed in 14). Plus, I really love Jasper. Sorry to all you Jeyna (is that a ship?) and Leyna fans...**

**I hope all you lovely people enjoy.**

"I'm sorry for, you know, loving you," Jason spat.

He turned to the door, slamming it. Walking out of the New York apartment complex for the last time.

How could she do that to him? He loved her, and she knew it. He thought it was requinted.

Guess not.

It wasn't his fault she cheated. How did she expect him to take her back after that? Movie stars were too dramatic.

It took every ounce of his strength to walk to his car, drive home, and enter his dwelling. It wasn't large, just like he wanted.

He plopped down onto the couch, staring at the black television screen. His mind went blank from every other thought except one:

_Why?_

Why did she do it in the first place? Weren't they happy? Weren't they in _love_?

Eventually he left the darkness of the TV screen swirl around him into a deep slumber that was filled with nightmares. He dreamt about his now lost love dying in a dreadful accident.

The thing that scared him was that his dreams are frequently real.

* * *

Leo shook him awake the next morning with worry in his eyes.

"Good afternoon."

Jason looked around, confused, while wiping the sleep out of his eyes. The clock on the coffee table read 1:45 pm.

Jason rolled over, remembering the events from yesterday. He couldn't care less how the heck Leo got in his house, or why Thalia hadn't woken him up earlier.

All he could think of was the feeling of betrayal that had settled in his chest.

Leo noticed his best friend's solemn expression. He was acting weird; Jason was always doing something when he arrived, he never slept on the couch, and he was always awake before at least 1 on his lazy days. He had checked Jason's phone that was sitting on the coffee table. There were no texts or calls from Reyna.

That was even stranger.

"You okay, man?" he asked, sitting down on the little glass table across from him. He was careful not to but all his weight on it.

Jason looked at the floor, and then back at his friend.

"She cheated on me."

Realization struck Leo like a slap in the face.

"Reyna?"

"Who else?"

"But I thought it was going good?"

Jason shrugged. "I did too."

"Sorry, man. Maybe she was too blind to realize she had such an awesome guy like you. She threw it away. You shouldn't dwell on it, okay?"

Even though Leo could be sarcastic in the worst moments, he did give pretty good pep talks. Jason smiled at him. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"Hey, where's Thals?"

Leo didn't know the answer to his question. He hadn't seen her ever since he had arrived at their house twenty minutes ago. He shrugged.

"Maybe she's hanging out with Annabeth?"

Leo shrugged again.

Jason fell back onto the couch. "Man, I loved her."

Leo nodded, understanding it would take him a while to get over her.

"Dang, she was stupid."

Jason chuckled. "Yeah. I can't believe she cheated on me with some loser. He'll probably dump her within the month."

Leo sighed. "Yep. It might be a week, if she's lucky. Especially when your break up is all over the magazines and he realized she was cheating on him, too."

"Crap, I forgot about paps," Jason groaned. "I won't be able to get away from them."

Leo walked to the kitchen, grabbing a tub of ice cream and two spoons. He offered one to Jason, who gladly accepted it.

"You need a song for your next concert, anyway. Wanna write one on her?"

Jason thought about it, but he was interrupted by his phone ringing.

The call was from Thalia.

Leo couldn't hear the conversation, but he saw Jason's face turn pasty white. Without explanation, he grabbed his keys and ushered Leo out the door. Together, they went to the busy intersection of 24th street and Oak.

* * *

The car was smashed, nothing to be salvaged. The entire front was wrecked, and the window shield was shattered.

Jason was speechless.

The car was Reyna's golden convertible.

She had lost control on the ice, sending her and the car into the side of a brick building. Thank goodness she wasn't going too fast, or it would've made a giant hole in the side of the structure.

But that doesn't mean she survived.

There's no way she could've. It was horrific, the sight of a convertible being squished into its other half. There was only a thin roof on the car to protect her from what came crashing down.

There was patches of thick ice on the street that hadn't melted yet from the storm about a week ago. They usually wouldn't have ice in the middle of November, but there are exceptions. Jason had no idea why she would be driving her convertible in this weather.

Thalia and Annabeth stood at the scene, conversing with police officers. They must've been at the cafe across the street when it happened.

Jason, still in his clothes from yesterday, ran up to Thalia. She looked at him with sympathetic eyes.

Even though he should be mad at Reyna, he still loved her. You can't just stop loving someone in a few hours' time. He still had the lingering affects of her laugh, smile, kisses…

For the first time in this whole break up mess, Jason Grace let the minimal tears leak from his eyes.

Soon Percy, Frank, and Hazel arrived. They just gave him sympathetic and empathetic looks. None of them were really close to Reyna. Most thought she was bossy and rude. Jason hadn't really noticed it; he had always overlooked it. Now, though, when he looked back, he realized she actually was a good person, but it was her faults that showed on the outside. She was funny, caring, and beautiful. But he had forgotten that she was missing one thing:

_Honesty._

Even after she told him she had cheated, he still loved her like she was still his girlfriend. He still wanted to meet her at the cafe and eat little sandwiches and then go look at ducks in the park. Of course, he was angry, but love doesn't erase in one day. It takes time.

He finally had some inspiration for a song.

After a few hours of answering questions from the police, Jason trudged back to his home. Leo thought he should give him some alone time, and Thalia had to go to a movie audition.

Finally, he was alone.

He could scream.

He could cry.

He did exactly that.

"She cheats on me and then goes and freaking dies. What the heck?!" he said to himself.

"I don't deserve this crap. I thought we were happy. Just had to go and screw everything up, huh Reyna?"

He realized that talking to himself will just make him seem crazy.

Jason finished off the ice cream tub, making him feel cold and sick. The chocolate taste lingered in his mouth.

He sat in silence, letting his body go numb. His heart ached, feeling the first waves of grief and pain. He didn't want any of this; he didn't _deserve_ it. This entire situation just wasn't fair.

After a few hours of silence, Leo went back to Jason's house. They still needed to work on their song, the reason he was there in the first place.

"You know, this whole thing has inspiration written all over it," Leo said after an hour of nothing.

Jason was too solemn to respond.

Leo sighed. "Fine. I'll start it out."

He scooped up a pencil, and started scribbling down words in his chicken scratch print.

_If I know one thing, that's true_

_It ain't what you say, it's what you do_

_And you don't say much, yeah, that's true_

_But I listen when you do_

He handed the Lyric Notebook, as they had named it, to Jason, whose eyes skimmed over the characters. He held out his hand for the pencil, which Leo placed carefully into it. Wordlessly, Jason wrote a few more lines.

A thousand years go by

But love don't die

They did this over and over, Jason not saying a word. Soon, a song had appeared on the paper.

_If I know one thing, that's true_

_It's that I'm never leaving you_

_And you don't say much, yeah, that's true_

_But I lose it when you do_

_Don't let them tell no lie_

_Love don't die_

_No matter where we go_

_Or even if we don't_

_And even if they try_

_They'll never take my body from your side_

_Love don't die_

_If there is one thing, that's true_

_It's not what I say, it's what I do_

_And I say too much, yeah, that's true_

_So just listen to what I do_

_A thousand years go by_

_But love don't die_

_No matter where we go_

_Or even if we don't_

_And even if they try_

_They'll never take my body from your side_

_Love don't die_

_She can break it up_

_She can burn it down_

_You can box it in_

_Bury it in the ground_

_You can close it off_

_And turn it away_

_Try to keep it down,_

_Six feet in the ground_

_But love don't die_

_No matter where we go_

_Or even if we don't_

_And even if they try_

_They'll never take my body from your side_

_Love don't die_

_No matter where we go_

_Or even if we don't_

_I'd like to watch them try_

_They'll never take my body from your side_

_Love don't die_

Leo grinned. "Instrumental?"

Jason groaned. "Tomorrow. Right now, I'm _starving_."

They walked into the kitchen, eating sandwiches, chips, and soda.

Today was a very unhealthy day.

Hopefully Jason's personal trainer would understand.

_**How'd you like? Review, please.**_

_**~Aubz**_


End file.
